Why I am voting for Biden’s team (even though I’m not crazy about him)

May 13, 2020 — nicoleandmaggie

Biden is not my first choice. I think there are probably credible allegations. I think he’s probably not the person he once was in terms of being mentally all there anymore. I’m not excited about his candidacy and I really hope he picks a vice president I can get behind.

But for the next election these are my main goals.

Get rid of the fascists in the Whitehouse

Get rid of the racists in the Whitehouse

Get back to something resembling evidence-based policy (this was further down before, but the pandemic has moved it up)

Get rid of Russian spies in the Whitehouse

Get rid of personal corruption in the Whitehouse, or at least get it down to much smaller levels that don’t hurt so many people

(After this there’s a much longer list, but these are the main ones that I feel pretty inflexible on that I do not think are too much to ask of anyone)

I am fairly confident that 1, 2, 3 and 5 will happen with Biden. I think some of 4 will happen as well, but not to the extent that a Kamala Harris or an Elizabeth Warren would have cleaned house.

Having talked to some folks “in the know” earlier this primary season, I was convinced that Biden will bring back Obama’s people as staff and in appointed positions. This is a good thing. Agencies that have been destroyed can just be replaced rather than being rebuilt. I’m voting for the infrastructure, not for the candidate himself.

So… I will be voting for the lesser of two evils in the Fall. I hope you will join me. And if Biden really does pick an awesome VP, I hope you’ll vote for the ticket, that you’ll campaign for the ticket, because of her.

Yep, I’m terrified of what we’ll find out is already gone from the State dept, the intelligence services, the DOJ, the FDA, the EPA… All the people who’ve left or been pushed out, have gotten jobs in the private sector, and won’t come back. All the passwords that have been changed and procedures that have been trashed. All the documents that have been “shared” with foreign powers in exchange for trinkets and baubles.

One shitty employee in the right place can hamstring an organization. What will hundreds of them have done?

There will be no real transition team on the Trump side. Biden’s team will be handed worthless boilerplate docs that are not updated or just completely inaccurate.

And that’s the best case scenario. If Biden loses, we’ll lose the court system, the free press, and probably the ability to vote for anyone not nominated by the RNC.

I never thought Trump was a good person or would make a good president. When he was elected, I did not anticipate the level of damage his baseline corruption, willful ignorance, and arrogance would cause, in part because I didn’t anticipate the level of crisis we’re facing. These are times that require people to bring their best to the fore. I don’t actually think he’s capable of what I would define as “good,” let alone “best.”

Amen. I will knock on doors for the Democratic ticket (as I have for many years) because I can see that he listens to people who are not criminals and traitors. And I’ll be doing this in Wisconsin or Michigan, where he has the potential to do very well. Plus, let’s face it, Biden will be sort of a place-holder President.

I don’t love that I have to pick between two people who have treated women with varying degrees of sketchiness. That said, Trump seems to be a lot worse even on that score (and on another planet in terms of every other value of mine). I have no hesitation about voting for Biden and hope I can be excited about his VP pick.

This is my thought — both have some history of not treating women well. Trump does seem worse than Biden. But look at their policy records instead (okay, Trump has a short policy record). But that’s what I did when Al Franken was accused and ultimately resigned. He had a history of making policy decisions that helped support the broader rights of women.

We are none of us perfect. I would far prefer a candidate who didn’t treat women poorly. But if I have to pick, I would rather pick the candidate who will put forward policy that supports (or, at a minimum, doesn’t harm) women. Trump’s willingness to support policies that control women and take autonomy away from them is too much for me.

I think I dislike Biden much more than you do. He was by far my last choice of all the Democrats that I researched (maybe the top 15 or so?). I’m not a huge fan of Obama, either (except on comedy shows–he’s so charming and fun!). I mean, we still have Guantanamo Bay, the digital millennium copyright act, and a too-big-to fail mentality. But for every negative of Biden’s, Trump’s are multiple times worse, and he has more of them, so for me, the choice is very, very simple. I just hope that in the long term we don’t settle for going back to the old levels of corruption, inequality, prejudice, bureaucracy, and climate killing.

Technically I also support people voting for a third-party candidate they actually like (especially if the only alternative is not voting at all), but I am not doing that for any election this time (I’m pretty happy with all my other options from the Democratic party).

Since Biden is kind of old and doddering, I will be more excited than usual if he picks a VP I’d like (Warren or Harris would be awesome, though I also like having them in Congress).

I think Obama tried to do a lot but didn’t have enough political power to counter Mitch McConnell et al. He definitely tried very hard on Guantanamo (and many other things) but couldn’t finish it. When you’re not an evil fascist you don’t have unlimited power.

the Guantanamo stuff I got from regular news stories (I believe NPR did several, but it would even show up places like the Colbert Report), but I also know/have met a lot of economists who worked for Obama and they were so frustrated– he listened, understood, and tried to do the right thing only to be hit with a brick wall.

@Debbie: Third party voters in swing states is one of the reasons we’re in this mess (I say this as someone who lives in such a state). I am TERRIFIED that that happens again. I also had Biden at the bottom of my list of serious democratic contenders. But, yeah, a strong VP pick and a good cabinet will do so much good.